Evangelism Jesus-Style | Winning Souls, Not Debates

Today's episode of A New Beginning is brought to you by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God.

Learn more at harvest.org. And while you're there, browse our library of free ebooks designed to help you grow in your faith. Listen to this. If you want to win some to Christ, be winsome.

Let me put it another way. Just be a nice person. Be a caring person. Be a compassionate person. If we want to attract people to Christ, we can't repel them with our manner.

Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us consider how to share our faith more effectively. The objective is not to win the argument, it's to win the soul. Don't come off as a know-it-all.

Be winsome. In scholastic debates, they keep score. It's a competition, and each side wants to win big. All too often, believers think sharing their faith is some kind of competitive debate. If they can score enough points, they win, and the other person automatically comes to Christ. But that approach can suddenly end the conversation and even end the friendship. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out how we're to win souls, not debates.

Good encouragement coming today. The title of my message is evangelism Jesus style. And here before us in John chapter 4 is a perfect illustration of that. We have Jesus engaging a lady. We don't know her name, but we call her the woman at the well. She was married and divorced five times and was living with a man.

She reminds me a lot of my mother. Except my mom was married and divorced seven times. Okay, she had two more on the woman at the well. But here is a woman who obviously was trying to fill a void in her life with a man. Oh, if I meet the right man, I will find fulfillment. And Jesus used this as a metaphor telling her if she drinks of this water, she'll thirst again.

So let's read it. John 4 verse 3. Jesus left Judea, departed again to Galilee, but he needed to go through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, weary from his journey, sat by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

That's 12 o'clock new. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said, give me a drink. For its disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said, how is it that you being a Jew would ask a drink from me a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered her and said, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that says to you, give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.

We'll stop there. If you're taking notes, here's point number one. If you want to share the gospel Jesus style, sharing starts with caring. People can tell when you care.

People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Normally the Jews and the Samaritans had nothing to do with each other. There was this huge barrier between them. They didn't communicate.

She even brings that up to Jesus. Why are you even talking to me? Don't you know we don't talk to each other?

We have nothing to do with each other. But Jesus left his comfort zone and went to someone with the gospel and we need to do the same. Think of the story of Jonah. God came to Jonah and said, I want you to go preach to Nineveh. Now the Ninevites were extremely wicked, evil, horrible people and Jonah said no way because his fear was they would repent and God would spare them and he would prefer it if God judged them. So he said no and he got in a boat going the opposite direction.

You know the rest of the story. Great storm came and Jonah was thrown overboard and he was swallowed by a whale or a great fish. We don't know which but and there in the belly of the whale of the fish he repented. So God said go. Jonah said no. God said oh.

God will always have the last word. But Jonah didn't want to go. You might say he was the original chicken of the sea.

But one of these situations came to me. I told you my mom was married and divorced seven times so she married this one man. His name was Bill.

He was her last husband before she died. Bill and I never really had a close relationship and he was dismissive of my faith and so after I moved out and some years had passed and my mother had passed someone called me and said Bill is really sick. He's in hospice care.

He might not even make it through the night. Maybe you should go talk to him about the Lord. That's the last thing I wanted to do. I didn't want to talk to him because I didn't really like the guy all that much and I thought I was on my way to go speak at a conference and I said I'll tell you what maybe I'll go when I get back from the conference and I'm on my way to the airport and the Lord speaks to me as clear as day and says you go see Bill right now. So I did a U-turn. I went over to the house there where my mom lived used to live and there's Bill and obviously not long for this world and my heart just changed.

I thought look at this guy. I said Bill I know I've talked to you many times about Jesus Christ and I want to just ask you because you are ready to face eternity. Do you want to ask Christ to come into your life?

He said yes. So I prayed with him and then afterwards I was so glad I went. I caught my flight landed. Moment I landed pulled out my phone got a text. Bill just died. See the Lord will prompt you to engage people with the gospel because they have a divine appointment.

Don't miss those divine appointments. Well I'm not comfortable. Well I don't really like them.

I don't really want to talk to them. It's not about you. It's about a lost soul that's loved by the Lord and so we need to go to where people are and start with that burden. Number two if you want to evangelize Jesus style you need to use tact. Tact. Tact has been defined as the intuitive knowledge of saying the right thing at the right time.

Isaac Newton said quote tact is the ability to make a point without making an enemy. So Jesus begins a dialogue with this woman and this is what I would tell you about one-on-one evangelism. It's a dialogue not a monologue. Right now this is a monologue. I'm just basically talking and some of you are wishing that would end soon but you know it's a monologue.

But when I engage people in personal evangelism it's a dialogue. I listen to them. I ask them questions.

I want to know more about them. Listen to this. If you want to win some be winsome. If you want to win some to Christ be winsome.

Let me put it another way. Just be a nice person. Be a caring person. Be a compassionate person. Listen to what a person has to say. That's what Jesus is doing.

He engages her. Hey could I have a drink of water? Why would you? Would you ask for a drink of water from me at Samaritan? Don't you know we have nothing to do with each other?

Hey you know what? If you knew who you were talking to you would ask him and he would give you living water. Living water. Where are you going to get this living water? Are you greater than our distant relative Jacob?

This is his will. And on this conversation goes and they continue on and this is a great way to engage people. Years ago I was I caught a Uber and I'm driving along the road. It's actually in Hawaii and there were these what they call ghost bikes on the side of the road. A ghost bike is a bike that was painted white to commemorate someone who died in a road bike accident on the road. And there were quite a few along this road. And we're looking at the ghost bikes and I started talking to my cab driver whose name was Tom.

And I said wow look at all these ghost bikes. He goes yeah man people die on this road all the time. So I said Tom what do you think happens after we die? And Tom the Uber driver gave me his philosophy. And I certainly didn't agree with it.

Well I think when you die you come back and you're reincarnated in another form. And he just went on. I didn't contradict him. I didn't interrupt him.

I just listened. And after Tom the philosophical Uber driver was done he asked me well what do you think happens when you die? I said well Tom I believe that if you put your faith in Jesus Christ you'll go into heaven. And I began to talk about the hope of heaven. After a few moments passed Tom says I like your version of the afterlife better than mine. I said well it's it's not mine Tom. It's these are the words of Jesus. But you see I listen to Tom and that's the thing. You listen respectfully to what a person says. Let them air their ideas out and then you can appropriately bring the message of the gospel to them. Jesus is so tactful with this woman.

He actually asks her for a favor. Could I have a drink of water? Here's the problem. Sometimes you know we can be armed to the teeth with all the information and we can barrage a person and blow them out of the water. Listen the objective is not to win the argument it's to win the soul. Don't come off as a know-it-all. Well I know so much yeah but just chill a little bit. Again learn how to be a good listener.

Listen to this. It's been said success builds walls but failure builds bridges. See when I tell you my wonderful exciting successful life you think well that's nice for you I can't relate. But when I share my vulnerabilities my weaknesses my struggles you say oh wow he's just like me right.

So when you don't come off as a know-it-all and you start to engage a person that's very important. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Hearing about listeners who are impacted by Harvest Ministries is so encouraging. Pastor Greg I enjoy listening to you on the radio here in Indiana. I also really like your devotional book Every Day with Jesus 40 Years of Favorite Devotions. I found the Lord through a friend in 1979 and after that I bought my first Bible started reading it and just could not put it down.

I've read the Bible cover to cover 25 times now and through this wonderful 44-year journey I continue to be amazed by the power of God's word. I also love seeing your Harvest Crusade. It's amazing to see all the young people worshiping the Lord. I love being a Harvest Partner in support of Harvest Ministries. Thank you Pastor Greg and Kathy for all you do. It's a privilege to provide so many resources through Harvest Ministries. Check them out for yourself at harvest.org. And would you consider becoming a Harvest Partner? If so you can make a donation at harvest.org.

Again that's harvest.org. Well Pastor Greg is presenting some practical principles to help us share our faith more effectively. Insights offered some weeks ago at an evangelism conference in Spokane Washington. And here's another thing if you want to evangelize Jesus style don't deal with everyone in the same way.

Everyone is different. Notice how Jesus adapted to each person he spoke to. In John chapter 3 it's Jesus and the religious dude named Nicodemus who came to Jesus at night. So it was literally Nick at night. I have a lot of dated references. Young people are like I don't know what Nick at night means.

What are you talking about? Anyway so Nicodemus was this renowned religious leader who was supposed to know all the answers. And he comes and asks questions of Jesus and Christ actually says you are the teacher in Israel and you don't know these things. But then Jesus gently but firmly tells Nicodemus the religious man you need to be born again. After John 3 is John 4.

Here's the woman at the well. So we go from this moral religious guy to this very immoral sinful woman. And he adapts to that. And then we see him with the woman caught in the act of adultery.

And then we see him with Zacchaeus the tax collector. And we see him with all these people and he dealt with everyone differently. Don't be robotic in your evangelism. Learn to engage as I've said learn to listen because everyone is different. Paul said it this way.

Become all things to all men that you may win them over. That brings me to a really important point now. Jesus engages her and confronts her with her sin. And sometimes we're afraid to do this. We want to say God loves you. God has a plan for your life. God wants to change you.

It'll be so wonderful. And then you say well what if I don't want your God? What if I don't want to go to heaven? What if I reject Jesus? What happens to me then?

Do you like warm climates? Wait hold on. You got to give him the whole counsel of God. Whole counsel of God is if you believe in Jesus he'll forgive you of your sins and you'll go to heaven. If you reject Jesus Christ you will face a certain judgment in a place called hell.

Oh I can't say hell. Oh you better say it because it's the truth. It's the gospel truth.

See the word gospel means good news and the only way I can fully appreciate the good news is to first understand the bad news. That I am a sinner hopelessly separated from a holy God that I have offended. A God who set standards that I have miserably fallen short of. But that's where Jesus comes in. He was more than a good man. He was the God man who came to heaven on a rescue operation and died for the sins of the world and rose again from the dead. Now he stands at the human heart and he knocks and says if we'll hear his voice and open the door he will come in.

So the woman's still kind of blowing off Jesus. Oh yeah well whatever can you you know are you greater than our ancestor Jacob? And he goes why don't you go ask your husband? And he says you don't have a husband.

You're living with some guy right now. Whoa how'd you know that? He confronted her with her sin. Not to destroy her but to show her her need for God. And she believes right there on the spot. Well we've heard that. You know when Messiah comes he'll know all things. Lose paraphrase. Jesus says you're talking to him girl.

And right there right there on the spot she believes. You know how long it takes to convert? It doesn't take years. It doesn't take months.

It doesn't even take hours. It can happen just like that. All of a sudden think about your own life. All of a sudden the lights went on.

That's what happened for me. Non-believer, non-believer, non-believer. Just a moment boom I'm a believer. All of a sudden I believe.

I see it. My eyes were opened spiritually. This happened to the woman and she believes on the spot. And she goes into town and shares her story. Look at John 4 28.

The woman left her water pot. Went into the city and said to the men come and see a man who told me all that I ever did. Could this be the Christ? That brings me to my final point. One of the most effective ways you can share the gospel is through your personal testimony. Everybody has a testimony. Your personal story. We read of those courageous believers in the book of Revelation that overcame satan by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. Now granted some testimonies are more dramatic than others. I've heard some crazy ones.

Amazing ones. I mean Lee Strobel. You know legal editor at the Chicago Tribune.

Full-on atheist. Comes to Christ. I have another friend his name is Michael Franzese. He was in the Colombo crime family. A made man.

A good fella. And he was being groomed to become the next Don or godfather of his family. And he was arrested and sent to prison. And he wouldn't rat out any of his friends. So they threw him into solitary confinement. And while he was in solitary confinement some guard took pity on Michael and said here you need to start reading this and gave Michael the bible.

Michael starts reading the bible first time in his life. He reads about Jesus and the whole thing in the mafia was be a man. You remember that scene in the godfather when Vito Corleone slaps the guy that comes in his office he says be a man.

Right? Be a man. And all of a sudden he dawned on Michael Franzese. The made man.

The mafia guy. That Jesus was the greatest man who ever lived. But more than a man he was God. And Michael gave his life to Christ. And and then he someone gave him a radio and he used to listen to me on the radio.

So after he got out of prison he served his time. Someone said there's this guy named Michael Franzese that was in the mafia and he wants to meet you. My response was did he use the word whacked at any moment and I don't want to be whacked. I don't want to sleep with the fishes. And I was suspicious.

I thought this isn't real. This guy was never in the mafia but I found out he was. And I met him and he's a good friend of mine a genuine follower of Christ. But listen not everyone was in the mafia. Not everybody was an atheist. Maybe you were just living a nice moral life. But you needed Jesus too didn't you. That's a testimony. See someone may not relate to the hardcore gangbang testimony or the drug addict testimony or the alcoholic testimony. But they'll relate to you because you would say I was living a good life. I tried to be a moral person.

I reached all of the goals I set in life but there was something missing and I realized I needed Jesus. That's a testimony. That'll preach. Let me tell you your testimony. Here it is. Once you were blind but now you see. That's it.

It's the same for everyone. So when you share your testimony this is a way to build a bridge. In fact we read in John 4 39 many of the Samaritans of this city believed in him because of the word of the woman who testified.

So here are some tips in sharing your story. Don't glorify or exaggerate the past. Sometimes I've heard people share their testimony and their past sounds more interesting than their present. They'll talk about their life before Christ. Yeah I was before I was a Christian I was a party and then doing all these things and it was amazing and and we did all this stuff and then I came to Jesus and all of a sudden they'd start talking weird. I came to Jesus and I carry the old rugged cross.

Hey man you got it all wrong. You're making your past sound better than your present. Paul summed it up so perfectly when he said over in Philippians 3 all those things they thought were so important are gone from my life.

Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ as my master everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant. Dog dung as one translation puts it. I've dumped it in the trash so I can embrace Christ and be embraced by him. He said my old life it was the word he uses is excrement.

Rubbish is one translation that's very British it is all rubbish actually. But I like this translation dog dung. How many of you have dogs? Okay you take your dog out for a walk. Really when you think about a dog who is the master here?

I think the dog maybe. I'm walking around picking up after him to take him home and feed him so he can sleep all day while I go to work. And now it's even gotten worse people are pushing dogs in strollers.

It's weird. Pushing a dog in a stroller and putting them away in your Prius. You know you do it. But Paul says here's my old life it's like dog dung. Now let's this bad illustration but let's say you clean up after your dog. Please clean up after your dog.

Some people don't do it. I've stepped in it. So you have your little bag.

Now do you carry your bag around with you for the rest of the day? Hey look at what my dog did. Like get that away from me. That's gross.

Throw it in the trash. That's your old life. Quit boasting about it. You were empty. You were lonely. You were guilty and you were headed to hell and Christ saved you from your sin. So don't glorify your past. Leave it in the past. But it's a good story.

Because it gives you an ability to relate to a person. So when I engage a person with the gospel I don't say let's turn in our Bibles to John 3 and pull out a little pulpit you know in wheels. I'm in the market pushing the pulpit around. Get the bread. Have the pulpit.

No. I'll start talking to a person. Hey hi how are you?

Where are you from? What do you do? Talk about this. Talk about that. And I'm looking for an opening.

Looking for an opportunity. And I'll usually start with my testimony. Let me tell you about what my life was about before. And I describe it and I use my story to lead to His story. So don't boast about what you gave up for Christ.

Boast about what He gave up for you. Good encouragement from Pastor Greg Laurie on how to share our faith by sharing our testimony. And there's more to come here on A New Beginning in the message called Evangelism Jesus Style. You know Pastor Greg you talked about sharing Christ today maybe someone listening is ready to come to the Lord. They want to start a new life and have their sins forgiven.

What would you say to that person? I would say that God is just a prayer away. You know it doesn't take years to become a Christian. It doesn't take months. Frankly it doesn't even take hours.

It can happen so quickly. It just starts with you saying to God I know I'm a sinner. I know that you love me. I know that you sent Jesus to die on the cross for my sin and pay for those sins and then to rise again from the dead and I want Him to come into my life. So here's my question to you.

Have you done that yet? Because Jesus who did die on that cross and rose again from the dead three days later is alive and standing at the door of your life right now and He's knocking and He's saying if you'll hear my voice and open the door I will come in. Would you like your sin forgiven? Would you like to know that when you die you will go to heaven?

Do you want Christ to come into your life right now? If so why don't you just stop whatever it is you're doing and pray this prayer with me. You could pray it out loud. You can pray it in the quietness of your own heart but pray this prayer to God. Say Lord Jesus I know that I am a sinner but I know that you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it now and I choose to follow you from this moment forward. I ask all of this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Listen if you just prayed that prayer the Bible promises that God has heard your prayer and has answered that prayer. The Bible says that we will confess our sin.

He's faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God bless you. You've made the right decision. The decision to follow Jesus Christ. Yeah that's right and listen as you begin to live this new life we want to send you something to help you get started off right. It's Pastor Greg's New Believers Bible. It's an easy to understand translation plus hundreds and hundreds of study helps especially for those who are new to the faith.

It'll answer the questions you may have. So get in touch for the New Believers Bible. We'll send it to you free of any charge. Just call 1-800-821-3300. That's 1-800-821-3300. Or write A New Beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California 92514. Or go online to harvest.org and click on Know God.

Well Pastor Greg the Living Water Tract dates back to the 70s and of course was wildly successful. And now you've turned it into the animated series called The Adventures of Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog. Yes. So you've taken this booklet this inanimate object and breathes life into it. You're like Geppetto.

Oh yes yes. Okay have you ever stopped and thought about the storyline of Pinocchio? So he makes his puppet.

The puppet is animated. Comes to life and what does he do? The next day he sends him off to school. Just sends this little defenseless puppet who doesn't know anything off to school. Pinocchio meets some rather unsavory characters. Gets into a lot of trouble.

Gets ultimately swallowed by Monstro the Whale. I thought why would you let him go to school? You should have walked him to school Geppetto. What kind of a parent are you?

It's outrageous. But anyway uh well that's right we we brought him to life. Brought Ben Born Again this little character I've been drawing for years and in case you missed it it's a play on words. Ben Born Again as in I've been born again. He's like a little surfer dude. He has blonde hair and uh and he likes to hang around the beach. He's passionate about Jesus. People have said is this like an animated version of yourself when you were a kid?

Yeah more or less it is. Yeah he's sort of my alter ego for sure. And Ben he's sort of the narrator. He's the straight man if you will and Yellow Dog a dog that talks.

Um he is sort of the he's there for the laughs. He's there for the comedy and so Ben's always trying to help Yellow Dog. Yellow Dog gets himself into all kinds of trouble.

He's afraid of all kinds of things. In fact one of the little cartoon adventures that we've done is when Ben takes Yellow Dog out into the surf. Now Ben's a competent surfer and Yellow Dog is behind him on an inner tube attached by a leash to Ben as they're paddling out and they get caught in some big waves and Yellow Dog starts to freak out. In fact here's a little scene from one of our new Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog cartoons. Listen to this.

Outside Yellow Dog. Big set coming. Isn't there a beginner's course around here? Don't worry man. Don't be afraid.

I'm not afraid. I'm just very very very concerned. Come on we've got it. Oh we don't got it. Jesus help us. That sushi is a little too fresh for me. Dude that was insane.

Yeah well the next wave coming is from me waving goodbye to this ocean. Yellow Dog gets himself into some real scrapes and of course he's the perfect comic relief. Ben has to keep his eye on his furry companion and together they learn so many important biblical principles. It's all in the adventures of Ben Born Again and Yellow Dog and the first episode is available right now. Why not watch it for free through our Harvest Plus app or at harvest.org.

It's the perfect length for active kids and their short attention span. We think you and your child or grandchild will really enjoy it and we hope you'll consider partnering with us so we can continue to reach out in this innovative new way. Pastor Greg is focused on going into unexpected places to reach unexpected people with an unexpected message and we hope you'll partner with us. You can get in touch by calling 1-800-821-3300.

We're here 24 7 to take your call 1-800-821-3300 or write a new beginning box 4000 Riverside California 92514 or go online to harvest.org. Well next time, more insights on evangelism from Pastor Greg's presentation at an evangelism conference in Spokane several weeks ago. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.